Great guitars these, I do like Taylors.  But what do you do if you want to plug it in?  You could chop it in for a new one, or convert it and add an after market pickup.  There are some quite good kits out there.  This one’s quite a simple it to fit, the built in amp is part of the jack socket.

Before I start it’s important to check the action.  I’ll have to reduce the bridge saddle a little, to compensate for the pickup.  I’ll check at the end, to make sure I’ve got it right.

The first problem though.  When I took off the strap button on the bottom it exposed a big hole (saved me one job) but it was recessed, and the new jack socket/strap button isn’t going to cover that.

I found an old socket that I’d already pulled apart for another job.  It left the top half intact so I took a hacksaw to it and cut the top and bottom off.

The hole wasn’t big enough so I had to file it out a little..

There we go, came out OK.

Next the pickup.  It sits under bridge saddle so needs a hole for the cable.

The trouble is it’ll raise the action up a bit so I need to take the same amount off the saddle.

About that much, 3/64″ I measured it at.

The grinding wheel’s the quickest and easiest way…

although it’s very important to finish it off by hand.  If the bottom isn’t perfectly flat and square the pickup won’t work evenly and some strings will be louder than others.

Flat and square..

That’s the pickup and bridge then.

The battery and controls are just fixed inside the body with double sided sticky tap so it’s all unobtrusive.

While the strings are off it’s always nice to give the fretboard a bit of a clean and oil…

There we go.  You wouldn’t even notice unless you look closely!